Basic knowledge of baristas: how to make a good latte and teach you how to make a good latte

After the concentrated extract, the latte is not good. What is the reason for this? The latte tastes bitter and can't be blamed entirely on espresso extraction, which teaches you places that are easy to overlook.

A latte tastes bitter, and many friends will point the finger directly at "it must be that the espresso is not well extracted!" "although it is true that espresso is not properly extracted in many cases, the proportion of milk, the temperature sent, and the uniformity of fusion can also affect the taste of latte coffee. Or everyone's sensitivity to bitterness is different. It's not all espresso's fault!

When the latte tastes bitter, we need to judge whether it is positive or negative.

Everyone has different sensitivity to bitterness, but one thing is certain that people are sensitive to bitterness. Although bitterness needs to be felt at the root of the tongue, in most cases it is something bad to taste bitterness, so it is natural that no matter what bitterness it is, as long as you feel it, you will immediately have the idea of rejection. But bitterness can also be positive and negative, positive bitterness will produce sweet taste, and negative bitterness will bring lingering bitterness to the tongue and throat.

Latte is composed of espresso and fresh milk. The mellow aroma of espresso is paired with whisked milk. The milk shows the sweetness of lactose when properly heated, which can greatly reduce the bitterness of the coffee. Although latte is the least bitter of all coffee drinks, it does not mean that it is not bitter at all. Mild bitterness is fine for those who are used to drinking black coffee, even sweet. But for people who are particularly sensitive to bitterness, it is normal to drink a latte with a sweet and bitter taste, but it is not normal if a latte shows obvious bitterness / bitterness. At this point, we need to check whether the production steps need to be adjusted.

The reasons for the apparent bitterness of lattes are as follows:

First, the extraction parameters of espresso are not suitable.

Qianjie daily recommends that the extraction ratio of espresso to powder is 1:2 and the extraction time is 25-30 seconds. In this case, you may be able to extract a qualified espresso, but it does not mean that this cup of espresso will taste good after adding milk. So making the concentrated base of latte needs to fine-tune the extraction ratio according to the actual situation.

Second, milk is not suitable for passing away the temperature.

The ideal temperature for milk is 55-65 ℃, with a maximum of no more than 70 ℃. Lactose and other sugars are most "active" in these temperature ranges. When the milk temperature is lower than 40 ℃ / higher than 70 ℃, the sweetness of sugars is not obvious, which will highlight the bitterness of coffee.

Third, coffee and milk are not evenly blended.

I believe you have tried to drink a bitter and light, "hierarchical" full of lattes. In many cases, people do not attach so much importance to integration, and they think that if they go around a few circles casually, they can pull flowers successfully. The purpose of fusion is to mix milk and coffee evenly, not to circle randomly. Circle fusion is skillful! The general technique of fusion is to stir clockwise, hold the coffee cup in the left hand and pull the flower jar in the right hand, and begin to circle from 03:00 to 06:00. When circling, you can choose a milk tank or a cup to circle, remember not to turn both at the same time! The height of milk fusion is generally about 5-8cm.

Fourth, the proportion of milk and coffee is not right.

The amount of milk added determines the intensity of the latte. When the espresso is right, the temperature is right, and the blend is uniform, the latte tastes obviously bitter, that is, the milk is added too little ~ the proportion of milk used to make lattes in Qianjie is 1:6, that is, 35g coffee liquid is filled with 210g milk (because the volume of foam and coffee oil will be larger than weight, the final volume of the finished latte is around 300ml).